Nehemiah 2
Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to Judah
In the 20th year of Artaxerxes’s reign, in the month of Nisan, I took the wine and gave it to the king, but I hid my sorrow from him. The king asked me, “Why do you look sad? You don’t look sick, so your heart must be sad.” Then I became filled with fear. I replied, “Long live the king! Why shouldn’t I be sad when the city of my forefathers lies in ruins and its gates have been destroyed in a fire?” Then the king said, “Are you making some sort of request?” So I prayed to God in heaven, and told the king, “If it’d be be okay with you, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, then I’d like it if you sent me to Judah where my forefathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.” The king and queen looked at me and then he asked, “How long would you be gone, and when would you return?” So I gave the king a time, and it pleased him to send me. I said, “If it pleases the king, I could bring letters to the governors of the province west of the river, so that they’ll let me travel all the way to Judah. I could bring a letter for Asaph (the groundskeeper of the king’s forest) so that he would provide the timber to restore the temple’s fortress gates, the city walls, and for a house where I can stay.” And the king granted my request because my God’s good hand was upon me.
When I reached the governors of the province west of the river, I gave them the king’s letters. The king had sent me with army officers and horsemen. But when Sanballat (the Horonite) and Tobiah (the Ammonite servant) heard this, they were annoyed that someone had come seeking the welfare of the Israelites.
Nehemiah secretly inspects Jerusalem’s walls
So I went to Jerusalem and stayed there for three days. Then I got up in the middle of the night with just a few men and didn’t tell anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. I didn’t have any animals except the one I rode, and I went out by night through the Valley Gate to Dragon Spring and Dung Gate where I inspected Jerusalem’s walls that had been broken down and its gates that had been burned. Then I went to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but too tight for my animal to pass through. Then (still in the darkness of night) I went up by the valley and inspected the wall a little more before turning around and coming back through the Valley Gate. The officials didn’t know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I hadn’t told anyone yet: not the Jews, priest, nobles, officials, or any of the contractors.
Then I told them, “You can see how much trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come on, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall so everyone will stop making fun of us. I told them the my God’s hand had been upon me for good, and I told them everything the king had said to me. They said, “Let’s get up and start building!” So they prepared themselves to start working, but when Sanballat (the Horonite) and Tobiah (the Ammonite servant) and Geshem (the Arab) heard of this, they mocked us saying, “What do you think you’re doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied, “The God in heaven will make us prosper as we (his servants) stand up and build, but you won’t have any power or influence in Jerusalem.”